


the umbrella scene

by mxgicxltrxgedy



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence after 15x18, Fluff, Getting Together, Human Castiel (Supernatural), M/M, and i guess generally little women as a whole but specifically the 2019 movie, dean doesn't die sam doesnt have a blurry wife and cas is back as a human, i stole this scene from little women (2019), i wrote this in a day in between class work and i want it gone so go fetch, no editing no beta we die like dean did in the finale, scene stealer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28992432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxgicxltrxgedy/pseuds/mxgicxltrxgedy
Summary: Cas is back from the Empty, and he says he needs to be out on his own way. Sam helps Dean realize why he doesn't want Cas to go.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 3
Kudos: 71





	the umbrella scene

Dean made sure to make a big meal to celebrate Cas’s return. There were many Dean Deluxe Burgers made and eaten- even Sam took one without complaining about the cholesterol and how it was bad for everyone’s health. Dean hadn’t felt as happy as he was in the kitchen while everyone else sat around and made lively conversation while Dean cooked over the stove.

Jody and Claire hadn’t had a lot of Dean’s cooking in the past, and were surprised with how good everything tasted when it was all said and done. Eileen had given them a look like _‘I told you so’_ and dug in along with them. And Cas- Cas ate at his sandwich slowly and carefully- like he was still getting accustomed to eating as a need again and the taste of food rather than molecules. 

Cas is back (Thank Jack) but they couldn’t bring him back as an angel. Cas was human again after a few years of having his mojo back, and would most likely stay human for the rest of his life. That didn’t matter so much as Cas was _back_ with the help of their friends and Jack and Dean couldn’t be happier.

Dean has yet to talk to Cas about what he said before the Empty took him. He hadn’t even told Sam what Cas said, or anyone else for that matter. Dean kept all of that close to his chest- the fact that Cas believed all of those good things about him- that Dean was the most loving man on Earth and how Castiel _loves_ him.

Dean is still trying to believe everything Cas said, and it’s hard on most days to remember that he isn’t the ultimate killer. That he’s someone that Cas can love.

And Dean loves Cas too. That’s another thing he keeps close to the chest. 

He didn’t want to have the conversation in front of everyone else. He halfway didn’t want to talk about it at all. He thought he would just wait until him and Cas were alone and maybe Dean could muster up the courage to at least say thank you for all the kind things Cas said about him.

After dinner, everyone went to the library for beers and to continue the company. Cas was mostly silent and watchful. He had his beer in his hand, which he sipped occasionally, but he mostly kept his hands wrapped around it and the glass set on his knee. He watched the conversations happen but didn’t much add to them himself. 

The conversation was mostly full, but as the day came to a close the conversations began to lull for longer. Cas shifted in his seat and set his beer down on the table.

“I- I think it’s time for me to go.”

“Go?” Dean asked, sitting up straighter in his chair. “What do you mean ‘go’?”

Cas rubbed his hands on the knees of his jeans. “I’m back to being human again, and I feel like I need to be on my own. Thank you for saving me, but I think I want to be on my own. At least for a little bit.”

Dean just stared at his friend. _Cas wanted to leave?_ After they worked so hard to bring him back? After everything Cas said to Dean before he left?

“Are you sure?” Sam asked, being the level headed and calm one of the two brothers. “You can stay here longer- and it’s not like we’re on some mission now. We can relax.”

“No, I-” Cas’s eyes glanced over at Dean for a split second. Dean only barely caught the blue eyes in his direction. “I think it’s better for me to leave.”

Dean couldn’t speak. The words wouldn’t come out of his mouth. Almost as if he were a passive observer- Dean watched as Cas collected himself, said a quick goodbye to everyone, walked up the stairs, and left. 

Dean just stared at where Cas’s body once was at the top of the stairs. It’s almost like he didn’t blink.

Suddenly Sam was in his view, standing in front of him. Dean looked around, back in his body and in his surroundings. He was standing up- when had he stood up from his chair? Sam just looked at Dean, like Dean was supposed to be getting something but wasn’t.

“What?” He finally asked, tired of his little brother’s hard stare.

“Dude, you love him.” Sam said, as if it were sitting right in front of Dean and he couldn’t see it. 

Dean just stared at his brother, and his pleading eyes. He wondered if Sam was reading his mind somehow, or that he accidentally let something slip at some point. 

Eileen looked up at him from Sam’s right and signed as she spoke. “It’s true.”

Sam wouldn’t- shouldn’t have known something like that because Dean’s been pushing it down for a long time- and especially when Cas came back. Eileen, as much as Dean loved to give her the credit she deserved, shouldn’t have noticed anything either. “I do not.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Dean, I’ve been your brother for the past thirty-seven years, and I can see it clearly. You love him.”

Jody, coming up from Sam’s left and placing a hand on Sam’s shoulder, nods along. “Sam has a good instinct. You love him.”

Dean shook his head. He was ready to deny this til the cows came home. He didn’t want anyone knowing it. No one- not even- “I don’t love him.”

Dean kept pushing it down. Further and further. Until Cas said what summoned the Empty and Dean was left on the floor of the dungeon with an empty room and a ringing phone he didn’t have the nerve to answer. 

“Every time Cas dies, you become a widower and every time he comes back it’s like I’ve never seen you happier.” Sam sighed, then leaned his hands on the wooden table in front of him. “Now go get him before he gets too far. I don’t want him to go alone having to find another job at a Gas’n’Sip while you sit here and repress everything you’re feeling.”

“Repress-?” Dean blinked at his brother. Dean thought about it, then decided to go with a different approach. “I’m not going after him.”

“You are.” Claire says, piping up from Dean’s chair in the library. She had been sitting somewhat peacefully on her phone, but now her phone is tucked between her leg and the leather of the chair. “Sam’s right.”

Dean looked over to her incredulously. “Cas said he wanted to leave and be on his own.”

Claire shook her head at him. “He was doing what he thought you wanted. He was practically begging for a reason to stay.” Claire stood up too, coming to Dean and lightly placing her hand on his arm right above his elbow. “I know my dad, Dean.”

Claire- who opposed the chick-flick moments as much as Dean did- was telling him to go. He’s been ignoring Sam and what he sees in Dean for years, and Jody’s a big romantic at heart, but Claire- a girl he and Castiel helped raise into the young woman she is now. Dean took a deep breath and nodded. 

Dean didn’t think much after that. He set his beer bottle down on the table and left the library- a little faster than he would like to admit. He takes the stairs to the door about two at a time and didn’t look back at his family who were watching him go. 

As Dean gets out the door onto the gravel of their road, he feels the beginnings of rain on his bare arms. It’s not enough to be uncomfortable, or to turn the sky into a grey, but enough for him to feel. He sees Cas walking downhill, with his back to Dean. He’s wearing some of Dean’s clothes because his normal clothes and trenchcoat have yet to be cleaned.

Dean didn’t know what he was going to say. Dean didn’t know if he had the strength in him to say anything. “Cas!”

Cas stopped and turned around, head first, then the rest of his body. Dean jogged a little bit to lessen the distance between them, but he could also feel the gravel slip out from under him a little bit so he could move too fast.

“Dean.”

Dean still couldn’t think. He thought he should say something big- but the growing lump in his throat stopped him. He didn’t say anything until he and Cas were close enough to be in arms reach- the kind of close Dean used to complain about. “I don’t want you to leave. I want you to stay.”

Cas tilted his head- like he always does. “You do?”

“Yes.”

Cas turned even more fully toward Dean, if that were possible. “I don’t want to leave if you want me to stay.”

“I want you to stay.” Dean took a breath, then grabbed at Cas’s wrist, his fingertips just barely sitting on Cas’s palm. “I never got to say anything before the Empty took you away.”

Cas’s eyes darkened a little bit, then he shook his head. “Dean, I meant what I said. The happiness is in the saying- and I don’t want you to-”

“But I want to. Say something, I mean.” Dean squeezed Cas’s wrist. “Just like I want you to stay.”

Cas nodded, but didn’t say anything in response. He waited- his blue eyes just looking up at Dean and waiting. 

“I-” Dean shook his head. “When you leave, my life gets worse. When you’re with me, my life gets better. I know we’ve both done some shitty things, and I know that I can’t be forgiven for some of them. With Chuck gone, and you back- I think we can have a good start, with our own free will.”

Dean loosened his hand a little and let it drift further down so he was actually holding Cas’s hand. Cas looked down and back up to Dean’s face in quick succession- almost like he was trying to figure out what Dean was doing. “I love you too. If you don’t want anything from me, that’s okay, but I needed you to know. And I want you to stay with us, even if you don’t want anything to happen.”

Cas stood still for a moment- and then in a flash, his arms were wrapped around Dean’s shoulders, bringing Dean close and digging his head into the corner of Dean’s neck. Almost instinctively Dean’s arms went to wrap around Cas’s middle. Dean’s heart pounded in his chest and after a moment’s thought, tucked his head into Cas’s neck. 

Dean could still feel the rain on his head and his arms, but he didn’t care. 

“I don’t have anything I can do for you, Dean.” Cas mumbled into his neck. Dean could feel his lips ghost themselves on the skin of his neck. “I don’t have any of my angelic powers and-”

“That doesn’t matter.” Dean stopped him. He took a deep breath. “I just want you to be with me.”

Cas lifted his head from Dean’s neck and pulled himself far enough back that Dean’s face was exposed to the rain once again. Cas had his hands around Dean’s neck now and he was looking into Dean’s eyes. The blue were shining with tears not shed. “But my hands are empty.”

Dean took his hands away from Cas’s waist and pulled at his arms until they were off of Dean’s neck. From there, Dean grabbed Cas’s hand and held it, interlocking their fingers. “They’re not empty.”

Cas smiled, and Dean could help but return it. Dean didn’t feel the rain coming harder, or the see the sky getting darker- he only saw Cas. Gently, Dean stepped away from Cas and pulled him along back up the gravel road and back to their home and their family.

**Author's Note:**

> yep. i stole the umbrella scene from little women (2019). idk why but i had the thought of this in the middle of the night and wrote the idea in my notes app then wrote it the next day. i hope you liked it.
> 
> also the sam and amy being the same person implications are..indeed hitting rn


End file.
